Connections between structural components



COMPONENTS 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR BYRON S. CLAPP Ma a -Q, M'

M Q omdflg ATTORNEYS W My W8? 8. s. CLAPP CONNECTIONS BETWEEN STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS Filed Nov. 29, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BYRON S. CLAPP w I fl M),

BY m /hu fk ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,313,575 conn acrrons na'rwann srnUcrunAL COMPONENTS Byron S. Clapp, Siier City, N.C., assignor to Eating Chair Company, Siler City, N.C., a corporation Fiied Nov. 29, 1965, Ser. No. 51%,331 Claims. (Cl. 297446) ist in relation to institutional furniture such as chairs employed in dormitories, cafeterias, libraries and classrooms.

It is especially discouraging to purchasers of furniture to find that a chair, otherwise serviceable, has become unsatisfactory because of the breaking or loosening of glued joints. This loosening or breaking of joints often occurs at the junction of a chair seat frame with chair legs. When such loosening and cracking occurs, it is necessary to incur the substantial expense involved in regluing the joint which, of course, entails the disassembly of the chair.

In recognition of the need for improved connections between furniture components, it is an object of the present invention to provide such an improved joint which is economically competitive with existing joints.

A related object of the present invention is to provide such an improved joint which affords a significantly more reliable connection which will prolong the life of articles of furniture to a meaningful degree.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such an improved joint which is adapted to production line operations, which may be fabricated with existing equipment and which may be assembled by workmen having the degree of training required to assemble conventional joints.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide such an improved joint which in and of itself provides a pleasing appearance.

It is also an object of the invention to provide an improved furniture joint which is uniquely adapted to serve as the interconnecting means for a wide range of structural components, but which is particularly suited to the interconnecting of glued, wooden framing components of articles such as chairs which are likely to be particularly abused during usage.

In accomplishing at least some of the foregoing objectives, there is provided through this invention an article of furniture having connected and mutually inclined portions subjectable to forces tending to induce relative pivotable movement therebetween. The invention is characterized by connecting means in the article of furniture comprising a plurality of tongues projecting in the same general direction from one component of the article of furniture, and an opening in another component of the article of furniture with at least one of the tongues being snugly received within the opening. Oppositely disposed portions of the one tongue engage oppositely disposed wall portions of the opening. Another of the tongues has at least one planar portion engaging a portion of the other component spaced from the aforesaid opening. At least one locking member intersects and extends transversely of the tongues and the opening.

A particular and independently significant facet of the invention entails the foregoing combination wherein the oppositely disposed portions of the one tongue are adhesively secured to oppositely disposed wall portions of the opening and wherein the other of the tongues has at least one planar portion adhesively secured to a portion of the other component spaced from the opening. In this structural context, the other tongue is disposed wholly on the exterior of the one component.

Another significant facet of the invention involves the immediately foregoing combination characterized by adhesively secured components and an exterior tongue and wherein a third component is connected with the locking member and engages the tongue which is disposed on the outer periphery or exterior of the one component so as to prevent movement of this tongue away from the component having a tongue-receiving opening.

Other facets of the invention which entail individually significant and advantageous novelty involve the utilization, in the context of the foregoing combinations, of reinforcing members sloping downwardly from front to rear chair legs, the use of closed ended openings to receive short tongues while longer, exterior tongues terminate in flush relation to adjacent portions of the chair components, the fastening of a chair seat to front and rear framing members only, an arrangement in a chair where a side rail has a front opening to receive the tongue of a front leg with another tongue being disposed on the inner side of the side rail and wherein the rear end of the side rail is tongued and received by a rear chair leg so that one tongue is disposed on the inner side of the rear leg.

Still other individually significant facets of the invention involve an arrangement in a chair wherein front and rear seat supporting rails are inclined upwardly and forwardly and wherein connecting means comprising a pair of dowell pins carried by these front and rear rails are aligned on the median planes of the rails.

Additional facets of the invention, worthy of attention, relate to the employment of combinations such as above described also including corner framing members securing front or rear seat supporting rails to side rails in a chair and in the employment of rectangular tongues.

In describing the invention reference will be made to a preferred embodiment shown in the appended drawings.

In these drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective illustration of a wooden chair having framing members defining a generally rectangular seat supporting frame, which members are mu-= tually secured by connecting means of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary, perspective View of components of the left front, seat frame corner of the FIG- URE l chair illustrating these components in a separated condition;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective, fragmentary view of seat frame components in the left rear of the chair as shown in FIGURE 1, illustrating these components in a separated condition;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary, vertically sectioned view of the left side of the seat frame shown in FIGURE 1 with the diagonally extending corner blocks shown in FIGURE I removed for purposes of clarity of illustration;

' FIGURE 5 is a partially sectioned, plan view of the FIGURE 3 joint when the components of this joint are assembled, with the rear leg and left side rail of the FIGURE 1 chair being horizontally sectioned at the elevation of the top dowell pin projecting from the rear seat rail;

FIGURE 6 is a vertical, fragmentary, partially sectioned view of the FIGURE 2 assembly illustrating the components in their assembled relation with the left front leg and the left side rail being sectioned along an inclined plane extending through the dowell pins projecting from the front seat rail; and

FIGURE 7 is a reduced plan view of the FIGURE 1 chair after a seat has been installed with the .rear legs being horizontally sectioned for purposes of clarity in illustration.

STRUCTURE FIGURE 1 schematically illustrates a wooden chair 1 including a seat frame 2 having wooden components interconnected by the connecting means of this invention.

Chair 1 includes, viewing the chair from the front as shown in FIGURE 1, a left side rail 3, a right side rail 4, a front rail and a rear rail 6.

Chair 1 also includes a left front leg 7, a right front leg 8, a rear left leg 9 and a rear right leg 10.

Rear legs 9 and project upwardly above the rear seat rail 2 to provide side frame portions for the chair back. At the top of the extended legs 9 and 10 there is provided a transverse, slightly arcuate, back support 11.

As shown in FIGURE 1, side rails 3 and 4 are interconnected with back rails 2 and 5 so as to form a generally rectangular seat supporting frame 2. This results from rails 2 and 5 being inclined at right angles to rails 3 and 4.

As is also shown in FIGURE 1, a side strut 12 extends between and connects the left front leg 7 and left rear leg 9. Strut 12 may be connected to legs 7 and 9 by conventional glued dowell pin joints. Similarly, a strut 13 extends between and is connected with right front leg 8 and right rear leg 10. Strut 13 may be secured to connections 8 and 10 by glued dowell connections of a conventional character.

Strut 12, side rail 3 and legs 7 and 9 cooperate to define a generally trapezoidal opening 14 enlarging away from leg 7 and toward leg 9. This results, of course, from the downward slope of the strut 12 away from the front left leg 7. As shown in FIGURE 1, strut 13 cooperates with right side rail 4 and legs 8 and 10 to form a trapezoidal opening 15, with strut 13 sloping downwardly away from front leg 8.

A conventional seat 16, which may be fabricated of solid wood, is secured to the seat frame as schematically shown in FIGURE 7. Seat 16 has a rear portion 16a which overlaps rear rail 2 and projects between rear leg 10 and rear leg 9. However, the edges 16b and 16c of tongue-like portion 16a of seat 16 are spaced laterally inwardly of the inner sides of the legs 9 and It The rear of seat 16 may be secured to rear rail 2 by a plurality of conventional wooden screws 17 which pass upwardly through apertures 18 in the rail 2 and are screwed into the underside of the seat 16 in a well-known fashion. Similarly, other threaded fasteners 17 may pass upwardly through apertures 18 in front rail 5 and be screwed into the underside of the front portion of the seat 16.

Significantly, the sides of the seat 16 are not fastened to the side rails 3 and 4.

The connections between the front and rear rails of the chair shown in FIGURE l with the side rails of this chair, which connections constitute a particularly significant facet of this invention and will subsequently be described in detail, may be augmented by corner blocks 19, 20, 21 and 22. All of the corner blocks are inclined with respect to the two adjacent framing members, i.e., rails, which they interconnect and are spaced inwardly of the junction or main connection of these two members. Each corner block may be connected by conventional wood screws to the two framing members which it interconnects. Thus, the representative corner block 22 which extends between left side rail 3 and rear rail 2 is connected to these rails by wood screws 23 and 24, respectively.

FIGURES 2 through 6 illustrate structural details of the principal elements of the connection between frame mem' bers of the chair 1 which comprise the basic aspect of the invention.

Referring to FIGURE 2, it will be observed that leg 7 has a pair of upwardly projecting, parallel and integral tongues 25 and 26. Tongues 25 and 26 define smooth continuations of the body of the leg 7 with the laterally outermost tongue 25 being somewhat shorter than the laterally innermost tongue 26 as shown for example in FIGURE 6.

Tongues 25 and 26 each have a rectangular cross section, have parallel side faces and parallel edges. Each of the tongue edges 25a, 25b, 26a and 26b defines a continuation of an adjacent portion of the leg 7.

Side rail 3 has an opening 27 of rectangular configuration extending upwardly from the underside of this rail. The cross section of the opening 27 is rectangular so as to snugly and conformingly receive the tongue 25. When the tongue 25 is disposed within the opening 27, the tongue terminates just shy of or contiguous with the top or closed upper end 27a, of the opening 27.

When the tongue 25 is completely received within the opening 27, an abutment 28 extending between the tongues 25 and 26 engages a ledge-like abutment 29 on the underside of the side rail 3. As will be apparent, bases 28 and 29 comprise parallel and contiguous rectangular abutments.

The inner tongue 26 projects along the inner side of the rail 3 so as to be disposed entirely laterally inwardly of the rail 3. Tongue 26 terminates at its upper end in flush relation with the top of the rail 3.

Prior to assembling the components shown in FIGURE 2, the inner faces 25c and 26d of the left front leg tongues and the outer tongue face 25d are coated at least partially with adhesive. The particular adhesive employed may be any of several adhesives conventionally utilized in the fabrication of wooden furniture. When the adhesive coated tongues 25 and 26 are assembled with the apertured end of the rail 3, as shown in FIGURE 6, three planar adhesive interfaces are provided to secure the rail 3 to the leg 7. One such interface exists between the tongue outer side 25a and the planar opening side 27b, a second interface exists between the inner tongue side 25c and the inner opening side 27c and a third interface exists between the tongue side 26d and the inner side 3a of the rail 3.

Tongues 25 and 26 have a lateral width equal to approximately one-third of the width of the leg 7. The opening 27 is equal to approximately one-third the width of the rail 3. The leg 7 and the rail 3 have approximately the same width. The opening 27 is disposed on a vertical median plane of the rail 3. Thus, with the tongues and tongue openings being of about the same size (with the tongues, of course, being of slightly less width than the opening) maximum structural strength of the leg and rail are maintained at their point of connection. It should also be noted that, in effect, the thickness of the rail and leg is increased by one-third at their connection since the tongues 25 and 26 and the rail wall portions 311 and 3c are of substantially the same width, i.e., one-third of the width of either the leg 7, or the rail 3, such that their combined thickness in the assembled joint as shown in FIGURE 6 is approximately four-thirds of the thickness of the rail 3 or the leg 7.

As shown in FIGURES 2 and 6, front rail 5 has parallel planar, front and rear side faces 5a and 5b, a bottom edge 50 perpendicular to side faces 5a and 5b, and a top edge 5a which is inclined with respect to the side faces. A pair of conventional wooden dowell pins 30 and 31 are adhesively secured within openings 32 and 33, respectively, in the left end 52 of the front rail 5. Openings 32 and 33 are disposed such that their axes are aligned with a median plane of the rail 5 i.e., a rail paralleling and disposed midway between rail side faces 5a and 5b.

When the tongue 25 is fully received within the opening 27, drilled holes in the tongues 25 and 26 and the front end of the side rail 3 are coaxially aligned so as to define dowell pin receiving openings 34 and 35. As shown in FIGURE 2, the top dowell pin opening 34 is disposed 5 Somewhat forwardly of the lower opening 35. As a result of this offsetting of the dowell pin openings 34 and 35, the median plane of the connected rail 5 will be inclined with respect to a vertical plane. This inclination may be on the order of about 20.

As shown in FIGURE 6, the openings 34 and 35 extend entirely through the tongues 25 and 26 and a rail inner wall portion 3b to the right of the opening 27, when viewed as shown in FIGURE 2, and partially into a wall portion 3c to the left of the opening 27. The dowell pins 30 and 31 extend into the openings 34 and 35 so as to fully intersect and extend transversely of the tongues 25 and 26 and the opening 27 and terminate beyond the outermost tongue 25 within rail wall portion 30 on the outer side of the tongue-receiving opening 27.

The slope of the top rail edge 5d is such that the rail edge 5d is horizontal and flush with the top edge 3d of the side rail 3.

Dowell pins 30 and 31 may be partially or completely coated with conventional wood securing adhesive of the type used in furniture manufacturing prior to their insertion into the openings 34 and 35.

The connection between the rear rail 2, side rail 3 and leg 9 is quite similar to the connection between the front rail 5, side rail 3, and front leg 7 except that the side rail 3 is provided with the tongues of the connection and the rail leg 9 is provided with the tongue-receiving openmgs.

Thus, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 5, rear leg 9 is provided with a tongue receiving opening 36 having a vertical, rectangular cross section and opening horizontally toward the front of the chair 1.

The rear end of the side rail 3 is provided with a pair of tongues 37 and 38 corresponding respectively to the tongues 25 and 26 previously described. The shorter tongue 37 is received within the closed ended leg opening 36 with the tongue 38 extending continuously along, but projecting laterally inwardly of, the inner side 9a of the rear chair leg 9.

Rear rail 2 is parallel and substantially identical to front rail 5. Rail 2 includes a pair of dowell pins 39 and 40, the axes of which are disposed on a median plane of the rail 2, i.e., a plane intermediate and parallel to the inner and outer side faces 2a and 2b of the rail 5.

The assembled leg 9 and side rail 37 are provided with dowell pin openings 41 and 42 corresponding, respectively, to the previously described openings 34 and 35 as will be apparent by reference to FIGURE 5.

Top dowell pin receiving opening 41 is disposed somewhat forwardly of the lower dowell pin receiving opening 42 such that the side rail 2, when connected with the leg 9, is inclined forwardly and upwardly so as to parallel the rail 5.

As illustrated, the top edge 20 of the rear rail 2 is coplanar and contiguous with the top edge 3d. The parallel disposition of the rails 2 and 5 and the coplanar relation of the rail edges 5d, 20 and 3d are shown in FIGURES 1 and 4.

As will be apparent by reference to FIGURE 1, the interconnection of the rails 2 and 3 with the leg 9 yields a generally L-shaped, continuous planar surface. One leg of this planar surface is defined by the rail top edge 3a, which extends along the inner side of the leg 9 and the other leg of this L-shaped surface defined by the top edge 2c of the rear rail 2.

The interconnected components of the rails 2 and 3 and the leg 9 may be mutually secured by conventional wooden furniture adhesives as previously described in connection with the joint between the rails 3 and 5 and the front leg 7.

As will be apparent by reference to FIGURE 1, the connection between the rails 2 and 4 and the leg is identical, in a mirror image sense, to the connection between the rails 2 and 3 and the leg 9. Similarly, the connection between rails 5 and 4 and front leg 8 is identirails 3 and 5 and front leg 7.

COMPARATIVE TESTS Chairs such as that previously described have been subjected to strenuous comparative testing to evaluate the merit of the described chair joints.

In performing these tests, chairs such as those shown in FIGURE 1 were subjected to rocking cycles with a load of about pounds being placed on the chair seat. Quite surprisingly, it was found that the new chair joint presented through this invention enables chairs to be subjected to over one half million rocking cycles with no evidence of failure of the chair joints. Conventional chairs, which were being simultaneously tested and which were fabricated of the same wood with double dowell joints secured by the same adhesive as the adhesive employed in the FIGURE 1 chair, experienced joint failure as early as the expiration of ten thousand rocking cycles. These tests indicate that an article of furniture having frame members secured by the framing joints of this invention are manyfold more durable than articles of furniture having framing members connected by conventional joints.

What is especially surprising is that articles of furniture having this significantly improved chair joint may be fabricated on a basis so as to be competitive with articles of furniture having the old conventional joint.

ADVANTAGES AND SCOPE OF INVENTION A principal advantage of the invention involves the ability of a chair joint as shown in FIGURE 5 or FIG- URE 6 to effectively resist the tendency for the side rails to undergo pivotable action relative to the chair legs which would tend to break the joints, i.e., break the glue bonds and allow wobbling between the chair components.

The sloping of the front and rear rails is also significant in that it tends to position the dowell pins in relation to the tongues of the joint so as to minimize the tendency for the tongues to split. For example, in the joint shown in FIGURE 3 the load imposed by a chair occupant will tend to cause the rail 3 to pivot downwardly. By disposing the upper dowell pin opening 41 forward, a maximized amount of tongue material is provided to the rear of the opening to effectively resist a tendency for the tongue 38 to split.

It is also significant to note the manner in which the side rails serve to effectively restrain tongues against lateral movement away from their associated components. The rail 5 tends to prevent movement of the tongue 26 away from the rail 3 while the rail 2 tends to prevent movement of the tongue 38 away from the leg 9. Although the corner blocks not always be necessary, particularly in relatively small articles of furniture such as kindergarten chairs, it is believed that in larger chairs these blocks augment this holding action provided by the front and rear rails.

The use of closed openings or apertures to receive tongues facilitates construction in that it prevents glue from being pushed through an opening where it would be deposited on the outer surface of a component. The depositing of such glue, of course, would be undesirable and would require a separate, time-consuming removal operation.

The placement of one of the tongues entirely on the outer periphery of a component without recessing this periphery results in the obtaining of maximum strength with minimum frame component sizes.

The sloping of the framing members 12 and 13 provides an effective, psuedo-triangular framing tending to effectively resist relative movement between the side rails and the rear legs of the chair shown in FIGURE 1.

The spacing of the rear portion of the chair seat from the rear legs of the chair effectively avoids tendencies for the rear legs to be spread apart when the lateral dimensions of the seat change owing to atmosphere induced expansion and contraction. Along this same line, the securing of the seat to the front and rear rails only effectively avoids the transmittal of lateral forces to the chair legs resulting from expansion or contraction of the seat. Thus, when such expansion or contraction takes place as a result of atmosphere changes, the seat does not react upon the side rails 3 and 4 so as to tend to cause movement of the dowell pins or other components of the joint.

It is also significant to note that the use of the tongues on the rear ends of the side rails of the chair enable the opening received tongues to be secured within a midpoint of the rear legs. This provides maximum material on opposite sides of the tongue so as to effectively resist spreading tendencies. With this arrangement, the placement of the tongues so that the innermost tongues are disposed on the inner sides of the rear legs enables tongues to be secured by the rear rail 2 in the same manner in which the tongues of the front legs are secured by the front rail 5. With this arrangement, there is produced a uniquely progressive instepping, from the rear legs through the side rails to the front legs, which is characterized by structural ruggedness as well as by a pleasing, asthetic appearance.

As will be apparent, the components of the connecting means of the invention are, in and of themselves, capable of being fabricated by conventional equipment and readily adapted to being assembled by workmen employed to assemble furniture having conventional dowell pin joints. This facet of the invention, of course, attributes to the ability of the described connecting means to be economically competitive with conventional but less satisfactory furniture joints.

In describing the invention reference has been made to a preferred embodiment comprising a glued article of wooden furniture. However, those skilled in the art and familiar with the disclosure of this invention will recognize that the furniture joints previously described are applicable to a wide variety of furniture materials and that some advantages of the invention may be obtained without employing all aspects of the described joints. It will also be recognized that configural and dimensional changes may be effected without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In'short, additions, deletions, substitutions and other modifications relating to the invention as described are within the purview of the invention when encompassed in a literal or equivalent sense by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an article of furniture having connected and mutually inclined portions subjectable to forces tending to induce relative convergence or separation thereof, connecting means comprising:

a plurality of tongues projecting in the same general direction from one component of said article of furniture;

an opening in another component of said article of furniture disposed between two portions of said other component;

at least one of said tongues snugly received within said opening;

oppositely disposed portions of said one tongue engaging generally oppositely disposed wall portions of said opening;

another of said tongues having at least one portion engaging a portion of said other component spaced from said opening; and

at least one locking member intersecting and extending transversely of said tongues and said opening; and

at least two of said tongues of said one component and one of said portions of said other component being fully intersected by said locking member and the other of said two portions of said other component being at least partially intersected by said locking member.

2. In an article of furniture having connected and mutually inclined portions subjectable to forces tending to induce relative pivotable movement therebetween, connecting means comprising:

a plurality of generally parallel wooden tongues projecting from one wooden component of said article of furniture;

an opening in another wooden component of said article of furniture disposed between two portion of said other component;

at least one of said tongues snugly received within said opening;

oppositely disposed portions of said one tongue being adhesively secured to generally oppositely disposed wall portions of said opening;

another of said tongues having at least one planar portion adhesively secured to a portion of said other component spaced from said opening with said other tongue being wholly disposed laterally of said other component; and

at least one locking member intersecting and extending transversely of said tongues and said opening; and at least two of said tongues of said one component and one of said portions of said other component being fully intersected by said locking member and the other of said two portions of said other component being at least partially intersected by said locking member.

3. In an article of furniture having connected and mutually inclined portions subjectable to forces tending to induce relative pivotable movement therebetween, connecting means comprising:

a plurality of parallel wooden tongues projecting from a first wooden component of said article of furniture; an opening in a second wooden component of said article of furniture disposed between two portions of said second component;

at least one of said tongues snugly received within and conforming to said opening;

oppositely disposed portions of said one tongue being adhesively secured to generally oppositely disposed wall portions of said opening;

another of said tongues having at least one planar portion adhesively secured to an outer peripheral portion of said second component spaced from said opening, with said other tongue being disposed wholly on the exterior of said second component;

at least one locking member intersecting and extending transversely of said tongues and said opening;

at least two of said tongues of said first component and one of said portions of said second component being fully intersected by said locking member and the other of said two portions of said second component being at least partially intersected by said locking member; and

a third component connected with said locking member and engaging said other tongue which is disposed on the outer periphery of said second component so as to prevent movement of said other tongue away from said second component.

4. In a chair including front and rear rails, a pair of side rails, a pair of front legs, and a pair of rear legs, with the front and rear rails and the side rails defining a seat support and with each side rail being connected with a front and rear leg, connecting means joining each side rail, leg and front rail junction and each side rail, leg and rear rail junction, said connecting means comprising:

a plurality of parallel wooden tongues projecting from one of a connected side rail and leg;

an opening in the other of said connnected side rail and at least one of said tongues being snugly received within and conforming to said opening;

another of said tongues having at least one planar portion adhesively secured to an outer peripheral portion of said other of said connected side rail and leg and spaced from said opening, with said other tongue being disposed wholly on the exterior of said other of said connected side rail and leg;

at least two dowell pins, intersecting and extending transversely of said tongues and said opening;

one of said front and rear rails being connected with said dowell pins and engaging said other tongue which is disposed on the outer periphery of said other of said connected side rail and leg so as to prevent movement of said other tongue away from said other of said connected side rail and leg;

said front and rear rails each having a generally median plane inclined upwardly and forwardly, with the dowell pins of each of said front and rear rails being aligned on the median plane of its associated rail.

5. An article of furniture as described in claim 4,

wherein, in each connecting means;

said opening has one open end to receive said one tongue and an opposite closed end; and

wherein each said other tongue is longer than the said one tongue and terminates in flush relation to an adjacent portion of said second component.

6. An article of furniture as described in claim wherein each of the plurality of tongues of each of said connecting means has parallel side faces, and has parallel edges defining a continuation of adjacent portions of said first component.

7. An article of furniture as described in claim 6 and including:

a seat; and

fastening means securing said seat only to said front and rear rails;

said seat including a portion superposed over said rear rail and having rear side portions spaced from laterally adjacent components providing said rear legs.

8. An article of furniture as described in claim 7:

wherein each rear leg projects upwardly above said seat to provide a backrest frame component;

wherein each said front leg and a said side rail are connected by a said connecting means with the plurality of tongues of said connecting means projecting upwardly from the front leg with said other tongue of said connecting means being disposed on the side of the connected side rail facing toward the other side rail of said article of furniture;

wherein, each said side rail and a said rear leg are interconnected by a said connecting means with the plurality of tongues of said connecting means projecting from said side rail, and with said other tongue of said connecting means being disposed on the side of said rear leg facing toward the other rear leg of said article of furniture;

wherein, each said side rail has a smooth inner side at the junction with its connected front leg with the other tongue projecting from said front leg being disposed laterally inwardly of said inner side of said side rail; and

wherein each said rear leg at the junction with 'a said side rail has a smooth inner periphery, with the other tongue projecting from said side rail being disposed laterally inwardly of said leg.

9. An article of furniture as described in claim 8 wherein each two interconnected rails defining said seat frame are interconnected by a said connecting means and by an additional framing component inclined with respect to each of said two adjacent components and spaced from the connecting means joining said rails.

10. An article of furniture as described in claim 9 wherein said article of furniture further includes a framing member extending from connected relation with a front leg generally downwardly toward a rear leg and is connected with said rear leg.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,257,389 2/1918 Platt 297440 1,644,336 10/ 1927 Gunlocke et al 297-440 1,848,656 3/ 1932 Phenix 297420 2,271,496 1/ 1942 Hofrnan 297440 X 2,709,485 5/ 1955 Haven 297-446 OTHER REFERENCES Pelton, Furniture Making and Cabinet Work, 1949, pages 27 and 33.

CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN AN ARTICLE OF FURNITURE HAVING CONNECTED AND MUTUALLY INCLINED PORTIONS SUBJECTABLE TO FORCES TENDING TO INDUCE RELATIVE CONVERGENCE OR SEPARATION THEREOF, CONNECTING MEANS COMPRISING: A PLURALITY OF TONGUES PROJECTING IN THE SAME GENERAL DIRECTION FROM ONE COMPONENT OF SAID ARTICLE OF FURNITURE; AN OPENING IN ANOTHER COMPONENT OF SAID ARTICLE OF FURNITURE DISPOSED BETWEEN TWO PORTIONS OF SAID OTHER COMPONENT; AT LEAST ONE OF SAID TONGUES SNUGLY RECEIVED WITHIN SAID OPENING; OPPOSITELY DISPOSED PORTIONS OF SAID ONE TONGUE ENGAGING GENERALLY OPPOSITELY DISPOSED WALL PORTIONS OF SAID OPENING; ANOTHER OF SAID TONGUES HAVING AT LEAST ONE PORTION ENGAGING A PORTION OF SAID OTHER COMPONENT SPACED FROM SAID OPENING; AND AT LEAST ONE LOCKING MEMBER INTERSECTING AND EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF SAID TONGUES AND SAID OPENING; AND AT LEAST TWO OF SAID TONGUES OF SAID ONE COMPONENT AND ONE OF SAID PORTIONS OF SAID OTHER COMPONENT BEING FULLY INTERSECTED BY SAID LOCKING MEMBER AND THE OTHER OF SAID TWO PORTIONS OF SAID OTHER COMPONENT BEING AT LEAST PARTIALLY INTERSECTED BY SAID LOCKING MEMBER. 